A species of coin fraud has arisen in which the miscreant drills a hole through a coin of the type accepted by a coin-operated device, such as a coin telephone instrument, and attaches to the cone a flexible cord or string, such as monofilament fishing line or dental floss, threading the string through the drilled hole and knotting the end to tether the coin. The coin is then deposited in the coin slot and allowed it to fall through the coin chute while the miscreant operates the coin return lever to cause the coin to enter the reject chute leading to the coin return hopper. When the coin enters the coin return hopper it is replaced by a wad of material and then the string is pulled back into the telephone instrument to jam the coin return chute so that subsequent customers who are legitimately entitled to receive a refund of their deposited coins will be cheated. Thereafter the miscreant returns, removes the wad of blocking material and steals the coins that have accumulated in the coin return chute. It would be extremely advantageous to be able to frustrate such fraudulent usage.
Heretofore it has been suggested to insert a string cutter in the coin path to sever the coin from the tether. Unfortunately, certain types of string, notably dental floss, are difficult to be grabbed and cut by a conventional string cutter. It would be of great advantage to overcome this difficulty.